The pair of Dinesh Karthik and Dipika Pallikal may be the most high profile sporting couple in India but close on their heels is the Cricket-Basketball pairing of Ishant Sharma and Pratima Singh. 
Both female protagonists in question hated cricket for the attention it was getting in compared to other sports and while Dipika has seemed to grow in love with the sport as seen by her appearances at her husband’s IPL matches from time to time, Ishant says that his wife is far from getting convinced and added that he always reminds him that basketball is a much tougher sport than cricket.
Speaking on the popular chat show “What The Duck”, Ishant said that he met Pratima at a local basketball tournament which was being organised by his friend and Pratima’s sister. Having made his way to the stadium as the chief guest of the day, Ishant was startled to see the scorer on the day.
Only later did Ishant know that it was only because of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury she carried that Pratima was not in action on the court and was instead deputising as the scorer. Not knowing this fact, Ishant joked to his friend that the scorers were pretty here unlike the ones he normally comes across on cricket grounds which usually has old people handling the affairs of the scoreboard, especially at local tournaments.
Ishant’s friend quickly corrected Ishant and though he tried to initiate a conversation with Pratima soon enough, it was only after a lot of deliberation that the two of them started to interact freely and started understanding each other.
In fact, Ishant revealed that it took Pratima two years to even accept his friend request on Facebook!
On a lighter vein, Ishant said that he always makes it a point to remind Pratima that cricket is a much tougher sport, especially the job of the fast bowlers, but it seems the Indian Basketball team member is refusing to give in.
While Ishant makes his point usually by detailing the pain a fast bowler goes through every time he makes the run to the crease and delivers the ball after stopping in their stride and taking a leap, Pratima took to the Basketball court along with her husband to prove how physical Basketball can get unlike a non-contact sport like Cricket.
